Aimee Copeland, woman who survived flesh-eating infection, receives bionic hands
Aimee Copeland became a national story last year as she battled back from a flesh-eating infection that robbed her of her left leg, right foot and both hands.
A new video released Friday shows the 24-year-old has been fitted with bionic hands.
Copeland had developed the infection, called necrotizing fasciitis, following an accident on May 1, 2012 in which she gotcut in a zip-lining accidentand fell into a Georgia river. That's when flesh-eating Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria entered the wound.
Her father posted her progress throughout on a blog and Facebook page as the world watched her fight the disease, hanging on each milestone as she finallybreathed on her ownand fought through phantom pains. She finally left the hospital after fourth months in August 2012.
Last September, she appeared on the talk show "Katie" to discuss her ordeal.
The new video, provided to WXIA in Atlanta, shows Copeland learning how to use Touch Bionics' "i-limb ultra revolution" prosthetic hands. In the video, she appears excited as she performs activities like using a spray bottle of cleaning fluid, wiping tables, hang clothes, eating candy and flat-ironing her hair.
"It feels amazing because...with the other arms I had, they really didn't feel like an extension of my body," she said. "This just feels very freeing...It seems like this could be my actual hand."
Karen Hakenson, a spokesperson for Touch Bionics, told CBSNews.com Friday that Copeland arrived at the company's facility in Hilliard, Ohio on Monday to get fitted for the hands.
The hands contain a powered rotating thumb and can have 24 different grips patterns configured through an iPhone app, according to Touch Bionics' website. Each finger is supposed to bend at natural joints so it can accurately fit around an object the wearer wants to grasp.
Once Copeland arrived Monday, she began the fitting process, which takes about a week to custom design to her anatomy, said Hakenson. Copeland left the facility on Friday to head home to Georgia, she added.
WXIA reports the hands cost $100,000 each. Copeland told the station that the first thing she wants to do with her new hands is cook.
Hakenson said the company donated the hands to Copeland.
